I don't like to miss a party, but I trust my ears (we've been together for a while) - and of course music is a very personal thing - for me they're among the better bands of the period - but not THE band, not the next Radiohead. I know the first record very well (like half of it) the second reasonably well (and don't like it much), and have been playing The Suburbs a bunch (which may be the most consistent of the lot but lacks a great memorable song). There's a humourless overwroughtness to it - particularly Win Butler's delivery - that eventually wears down my fondness for the band and the arrangements. My comment was also pertaining to the potential jeopardy of becoming (or maintaining) IT band status - I think it exaggerates their value and potentially shortens their future. Better to fly a little under the radar it seems to me.

Stu, I remember going through the grief cycle a few years ago when Derek (sober, mind you, and without pointing) announced he didn't think the Beatles were much good. The Beatles, for Pete's sake.